Zap! Posted January 18, 2020 Share Posted January 18, 2020 There are so many, but one that I was just thinking about was One Must Fall 2097. I played the hell out of this game, and it had amazing music! Wow, I just realized at 0:44 that the robot dabs when victorious! We might have found the inventor! 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
newtmonkey Posted January 18, 2020 Share Posted January 18, 2020 Oh man, DOS games. As a young kid I played mostly games on my Atari, NES, and then C64... but once I got my first PC everything else went in the closet. My first few games were Commander Keen: Invasion of the Vorticons (a friend of my older brother's gave me a copy), Ultima VII, Quest for Glory III, and Legend of Kyrandia. Ultima VII barely ran on my PC (386-16, below even the min requirements I think...), but I got a friend to make a copy of Ultima VI for me. I didn't feel too bad about pirating, as I had bought the (horrible) C64 version of games years before. PC DOS was my primary gaming platform for years and years. So many great games on there. All those great shareware games from Apogee and Epic. All those amazing games from Origin that continued to push your harder with each release until you finally gave in and upgraded! The point and click adventure games from Sierra and Lucasarts that looked like you were playing a painting or a cartoon. I still play DOS games more than anything else to this day, though it's through DOSBOX (currently working through Might & Magic Book One after completing Wizardry 1-3+5). I'd love to build a 386 or 486 some day, but it's extremely hard to find hardware here in Japan. DOSBOX doesn't feel 100% right, but it's close enough for the kinds of games I like. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wierd_w Posted January 18, 2020 Share Posted January 18, 2020 If you don't mind that the bios will be in english, it is entirely possible to get a US model. The Japanese market has historically always been hard for the anglosphere countries to penetrate with products. For the most part, you can install regionalized versions of dos and windows on western origin hardware. Getting the BIOS to accept a Japanese JIS keyboard might be a trick though. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wierd_w Posted January 18, 2020 Share Posted January 18, 2020 Digging in my closet I found an AMD Athlon 64 motherboard + CPU. It has a floppy controller, and sata connectors. Might be a reasonable "Middle of the road" solution, that is beefy enough to handle anything from that era and then some, while still having real diskette controller and pals. I am contemplating this as an option actually. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Usotsuki Posted January 18, 2020 Share Posted January 18, 2020 I have Japanese MS-DOS and PC DOS disk images somewhere for AT-compatibles (DOS/V)... *looks* Looks like MS-DOS 5 and 6.2 plus PC DOS 5 and 7. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
boxpressed Posted January 18, 2020 Share Posted January 18, 2020 I don't play DOS games as much anymore as listen to their music on different wavetables. It may sound weird, but I like those games that let me mess with hardware. A few obvious titles have terrific music and are fun to play in short bursts for me: Descent, Duke Nukem 3D, Tyrian, Doom, Dark Forces, Jazz Jackrabbit. Others are still great, but the music isn't as memorable: Blood, Hexen, Return of the Triad. One Must Fall is the best. I sent off for the full version BITD and still have it. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wierd_w Posted January 18, 2020 Share Posted January 18, 2020 I remember playing mystic towers and hocus pocus. Both Apogee shareware titles, but fun in their own ways. 7th guest was a good puzzle game number too. Sadly my ability to get shareware titles was limited; The phone system in my area was.... Garbage. So BBS and the like was out of the question. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chuckwalla Posted January 18, 2020 Share Posted January 18, 2020 Gonna open up a fresh game of DOS Wasteland tonight. Been a while since i've played it. Been playing a lot of 16-bit to see if I can complete some games I never completed (namely Rocket Knight Adventures on the Genesis and DK Country I on the SNES) and it would be a nice change of pace to play one of my favorite DOS titles. https://archive.org/details/msdos_Wasteland_1988 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
newtmonkey Posted January 20, 2020 Share Posted January 20, 2020 @chuckwalla I just played and completed Wasteland for the first time a couple of months back. I had a blast, and felt that the game aged very well. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Zap! Posted January 24, 2020 Share Posted January 24, 2020 On 3/23/2016 at 2:47 PM, BassGuitari said: Looking at the code--which is very well-laid out, btw, with big REM headers summarizing what the following chunk of code does--it's actually called PC-Man, no relation to the machine-code Orion Software game ("PC MAN" is also printed on the game screen, on the ghost house). No indication of who the author is, though. You can choose from 1-4 ghosts (it runs REALLY slow with 4) and it even has a high score board, stored in a separate file IIRC. A really interesting thing about the game that I didn't remember BITD is that ghosts don't return to "normal" after you eat them until the power pill wears off, they only return to the ghost house. So if you can get a power pill, take out one or two of the ghosts (actually card suits ), and make it back to the ghost house before the pill wears off, you can camp out by the opening and keep spamming them as they come out. That usually results in your own death since it's hard to tell when they're going to change back; I guess the key is to learn the timing of the power pill not get too greedy. Even as a suicide mission, you can quickly rack up scores that would otherwise be pretty insane, or would require clearing the screen six or seven times. It's probably not the kind of game you'd go to unless your only other interaction with computers was limited to WordStar or something, but it's a nice piece of nostalgia for me (which is something I'm not normally susceptible to), and for what it is--a Pac-Man game written in BASIC--it's not bad at all. Is there any way you can post it, or if possible link to it if it’s been uploaded yet? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Zap! Posted January 25, 2020 Share Posted January 25, 2020 On 3/23/2016 at 2:03 PM, BassGuitari said: I have found a video of the game that you are talking about, but not yet a download link to the game itself. I will keep on searching and post any updates! 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Zap! Posted January 26, 2020 Share Posted January 26, 2020 And now I have found the download file...sorta. It's not in English, but it runs. Still looking for the English version, but I'm getting close. https://www.myabandonware.com/game/pcman-37j#download 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BassGuitari Posted January 27, 2020 Share Posted January 27, 2020 On 1/25/2020 at 2:10 PM, Zap! said: I have found a video of the game that you are talking about, but not yet a download link to the game itself. I will keep on searching and post any updates! Very interesting! This actually looks like a further-developed version of the game I was describing, though, rather than the game I actually played. The game I had didn't have a title screen, instruction screen, power pill speed option (or fast/slow game speed option), joystick support, music (only rudimentary sound effects), and was written in BASIC while this game is probably machine code. You could also choose to play with just one ghost instead of this game's apparent minimum of two. The maze here is a copy of the arcade layout, whereas the maze in "my" game was unique to itself (as the mazes in Pac clones of the time often were). Also IIRC the scoring is different; I think dots were only worth one point each. The high score screen looks the same, though, and the game definitely used the same ANSI character/graphics. It would seem that the game was iterated upon, although "by whom" and "when" are mysteries. The fact that a Spanish translation exists probably indicates that some form of this game really got around back in the day, though. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Zap! Posted January 27, 2020 Share Posted January 27, 2020 14 minutes ago, BassGuitari said: Very interesting! This actually looks like a further-developed version of the game I was describing, though, rather than the game I actually played. The game I had didn't have a title screen, instruction screen, power pill speed option (or fast/slow game speed option), joystick support, music (only rudimentary sound effects), and was written in BASIC while this game is probably machine code. You could also choose to play with just one ghost instead of this game's apparent minimum of two. The maze here is a copy of the arcade layout, whereas the maze in "my" game was unique to itself (as the mazes in Pac clones of the time often were). Also IIRC the scoring is different; I think dots were only worth one point each. The high score screen looks the same, though, and the game definitely used the same ANSI character/graphics. It would seem that the game was iterated upon, although "by whom" and "when" are mysteries. The fact that a Spanish translation exists probably indicates that some form of this game really got around back in the day, though. Wow, I am shocked that there's actually variations of this ancient game! Hard to believe it made it around the world too. Some more good news: I actually just found the English version. It's not the version that you played, but I believe it's a bit different than the one in the video. I found it on a compilation of 80's DOS games. It is indeed listed an anonymous too. To get it to finally start, after you select everything press the "S" key. I've attached the file for all to enjoy. But I hope you have an XT, because even on my 386 after selecting slow mode, it runs blazingly fast. Anyway, if you ever find your version, please attach it here. Thanks! PCMAN (198x)(Anonymous) [Action].zip 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
IntelliMission Posted January 27, 2020 Share Posted January 27, 2020 (edited) Considering DOS as a "platform" is kind of cheating, since it expands from the 8 bit to the early 32 bit era. But even if we concentrate on the most recognizable era, the 16 bits, MS-DOS is still my favorite "game system" of all times. These are some of my favorite games: - Graphic adventure: Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade, The Secret of Monkey Island, Monkey Island 2: Lechuck's Revenge, Indiana Jones and the Fate of Atlantis, Space Quest IV, Space Quest V, Gabriel Knight: Sins of the Fathers, Conquests of the Longbow, Eco Quest, Fascination, Ween, Lost in Time, Inca 2: Wiracocha, The Lost Files of Sherlock Holmes. - FPS: Wolfenstein 3D, Doom, Doom 2, Quake, Duke Nukem 3D, Blood, Jedi Knight. - Platformers: Another World, Dangerous Dave 2. - Survival Horror: Ecstatica, Bioforge. - Racing: Ivan "Ironman" Stewart's Super Off Road, Stunts, Carmaggeddon, Death Rally, Screamer 2. - Sports: Kings of the Beach. I find it almost offensive that MS-DOS games (and 8/16 bit computers like the C64, ZX-Spectrum, Amstrad CPC, MSX, Amiga or Atari ST) are often ignored in "professional" articles about the history of video games. From 1985 to 1995, playing in a computer was a much better experience than playing in a console for solo games. I didn't have a console back then, but I guess the multiplayer aspect would have been the main reason for me to buy one if I had the money and maturity to do so (I was 5-15 years old in that period). DOS gaming, in paticular, dwarfed the overrated SNES and Genesis when it comes to catalog from 1990 to 1995, as you can see in this awesome graphic from Mobygames, and the games were usually more original due to Nintendo and Sega's policy to target to kids and very specific genres (such as side scrolling platformers). Edited January 27, 2020 by IntelliMission 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
newtmonkey Posted January 28, 2020 Share Posted January 28, 2020 @IntelliMission Agree 100%. It's sad how little representation DOS games (also the 8 and 16 bit computers you mentioned) get not only in the professional media, but in the amateur media (Youtube etc.). Everything is very Japanese console-centric everywhere you go. If you went by these sources, the history of video games is : Nintendo saved the industry from Atari's ruin, Nintendo and Sega competed with their 16-bit consoles, the PSX took over, and modern gaming is MS versus Sony year after year with quirky Nintendo consoles bringing up the rear. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Flojomojo Posted January 28, 2020 Share Posted January 28, 2020 On 1/17/2020 at 10:06 PM, Zap! said: There are so many, but one that I was just thinking about was One Must Fall 2097. I played the hell out of this game, and it had amazing music! Wow, I just realized at 0:44 that the robot dabs when victorious! We might have found the inventor! That was a neat game to play with a game pad, and I've always appreciated that the developers set it free so long ago. It's been available to grab free of charge since 1999. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/One_Must_Fall:_2097 More companies should do that once the commercial life of a game is over. It seemed to happen more in the days of PC magazines with cover discs. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
IntelliMission Posted January 28, 2020 Share Posted January 28, 2020 (edited) That old tale of the video game crash of 1983 reminds me of when alien invasions in movies always take place in America, which of course is the country where every single super hero lives too. The crash happened only in one country. Japan and Europe were starting a golden era of 8 bit games. By the way, I must correct something in my list: Jedi Knight is a Windows 95 game, so we can remove it and add an awesome simulation game I forgot to mention: Stunt Island. Edited January 28, 2020 by IntelliMission 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GameboyIsTheBest Posted February 12, 2020 Share Posted February 12, 2020 Jill of the jungle. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Serguei2 Posted February 12, 2020 Share Posted February 12, 2020 Space Quest 1,2 King's quest IV Into the eagle's nest Blockbuster Grand prix circuit Robocop Gauntlet Thexder Questron II Rogue 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gilbyph Posted February 12, 2020 Share Posted February 12, 2020 (edited) Star Trek 25th Anniversary Doom Curse of the Azure Bonds (My favorite, I like the whole series though) SimCity SimCity 2000 SimFarm Oregon Trail These were among my favorites! Edited February 12, 2020 by Gilbyph Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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